.Speaking of camels, want a good laugh?As part of a new publicity campaign, our Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs released three video clips gently mocking French, Spanish, and English reporters for their alleged assumptions about the Jewish state. The idea is to teach Israelis traveling abroad or meeting foreign visitors how to counter stereotypes and spread good PR.For the funny camel video, click on Clip 3 here..

Just to the left of the ramp is the section of the Western Wall where women are allowed to pray.

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There was an induction ceremony for soldiers the night of this photo, hence all the flags and people.

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This photo from Wikipedia shows the Mughrabi (aka Morocco) Gate from the inside.

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I learn from the BiblePlaces.com blog that Jerusalem District Archaeologist Yochanan Zeligman recently addressed a letter to Israel Antiquities Authority Director-General Shuka Dorfman,

in which he told of several incidents of stones fallling from the Mughrabi Gate and warned that “a danger exists to the crowd in the women’s section of the Western Wall Plaza, as well to those who walk on the temporary bridge, should stones fall from above.”

.Wanting to join the bloggers' bandwagon for Halloween, but what to do if Israel has no Halloween?Well, I DO have a photo from 2009 of grandson Dean dressing up in dragon and animal costumes in the fantastic kids' playroom at the Australian Museum. .And the mirror gave us something nice for James' Weekend Reflections. .Happy Halloween to all of you who live in a country that celebrates it. .

Friday, October 29, 2010

Faintly, in the twilight, on the far horizon, the Herodion is just visible..National Geographic describes it like this:."Eight miles south of Jerusalem, where the last stunted olive trees and stony cornfields fade into the naked badlands of the Judaean desert, a hill rises abruptly, a steep cone sliced off at the top like a small volcano. This is Herodium, one of the grand architectural creations of Herod the Great, King of Judaea, who raised a low knoll into a towering memorial of snowy stonework and surrounded it with pleasure palaces, splashing pools, and terraced gardens.".Chief excavator of the site for decades and recent discoverer of Herod's tomb, Prof. Ehud Netzer left his beloved Herodion on Monday for the last time, in an ambulance.A wooden railing on which he was leaning broke and he fell ten feet downward, hit, rolled, and fell another ten feet, breaking his skull and neck..Netzer, in his mid-70s, died yesterday and was buried this morning.Israel suddenly lost an outstanding archaeologist..My sympathy to his shocked wife and family. We will all miss Ehud.May he rest in peace after a life well lived, a country well served, and work well done..Latest news of the accident and burial: Jerusalem Post and Haaretz..National Geographic's story of King Herod and Ehud Netzer (note, however, that the first photo is Masada and not Herodion).If you are in the USA you can see National Geographic's "King Herod's Lost Tomb" on streaming Netflix..Photos of Herod's just recently exposed royal theater box.Prof. Netzer's biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Netzer.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

This incredibly long building on Jaffa Road is called Batei Saidoff, meaning Saidoff Houses.

Isaac Saidoff built the complex in the 1920s, after he moved to Jerusalem from Shanghai.

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The great influx of Jews to Shanghai began in the second half of the 19th century and continued to grow in bursts through the end of World War II. The city was known as a bustling international trade and commerce hub, free from anti-Semitism and ripe with opportunity. At its height during the Holocaust this Jewish community, the largest in China, stood at nearly 50,000.

.In 1919 the Saidoff family sought refuge from the pogroms in Bukhara (in southern Russia). They fled to Shanghai and settled there in search of a new life. A few years later the family immigrated to Israel.

As you saw in a recent post, the almost-century-old building is being reconstructed..

Hard to imagine at this stage, but the contractor advertises it as "Your residence in Jerusalem--where history meets luxury."

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This video from Ashdar/Ashtrom Group will help us imagine what it will become.

This photo from a gray day in February shows the beginnings of the foundation for the 23-storey high-rise that will be part of the Saidoff Houses complex.

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The high-rise itself will have ninety 3- to 6-room apartments.

Globes says sales so far include a 270-square meter 6-room apartment for NIS 8.5 million and a 190-square meter 4-room apartment for NIS 6.3 million. At today's rate, that is $2,333,243 and $1,728,850.

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The view of Jerusalem, the Old City, and the Hills of Jerusalem doesn't come cheap!

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I imagine most buyers will be residents of the USA or UK who come to Israel only for the Jewish holidays, a few weeks a year, such as at Jerusalem's David's Village complex, which is a ghost town most of the year.

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Meanwhile, it is fun to follow the stages of deconstruction, reconstruction, and construction.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

. The AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) held their once-a-year Jerusalem yard sale on Friday. .Anglos, it seems, are the only ones in Israel to hold these huge garage sales. I enjoy it because you can see tons of used English books and gently-worn American clothes and the atmosphere is fun.

I restrained myself and came home with only useful bargains:a book of classic songs about Jerusalem, two bilingual dictionaries, a new cloth wallet, a Thinsulate hat for winter, and two Old Navy shirts for grandson Dean (in a year or two). .All this for only 30 shekels (= $8.25)..The Jerusalem Post was giving away free weekend newspapers and their new monthly Ivrit magazine for Hebrew-learners, which I gave to friends to enjoy..Thanks, AACI, for facilitating this nice coming together to share. .

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

.The ABC Wednesday meme's page is showing an ostrich today, for O-Day.I will be offering ostrich eggs. Orthodox monk filling the oil lamps in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

He kneels on the anointing stone on which, it is believed, the body of Jesus was prepared for burial.

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Enlarge this photo and you will see a decorated ceramic egg on the chain above each oil lamp.

Some experts think that in centuries past, these ostrich eggs were barriers against mice.

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An Armenian source says that the mice, attracted by the animal fat used in these lamps, would descend the ropes and chains and then slip off the slick surface of the egg before they could reach the vessel bearing the oil..

Ostrich eggs were also hung in mosques.

These two opulent eggs (real eggs, not ceramic) are displayed at the Museum for Islamic Art Jerusalem, in the Late Iranian Art room.

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The 18th century ivory colored one is carved with arabesques and inscriptions.

Monday, October 25, 2010

.Saving Jerusalem's nice old buildings so that new luxury residences can be built inside their shell is a lot of work.

This worker was cleaning an arch, stone by stone, of the hundred-year-old Saidoff Houses on busy Jaffa Street..That whirling steel brush could be bad for the eyes.I'm glad they gave him plastic safety glasses. But enlarge the photo and see where they are!.In the next few days I will have more on this big project that has been going on for years..That's it for now for That's My World Tuesday. Shalom!.

While walking the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage route across Spain, Lucy found this Spanish saying in a logbook: "El turista exige; el peregrino agradece," meaning, "The tourist demands; the pilgrim gives thanks."

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That was nine years ago, but that idea stayed with Lucy.

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To quote her new blog:

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" I’m walking the [Bibbelmun] track as a reflective, embodied practice as part of my Honours thesis in sustainability. Its working title is: Pilgrimage and the Alchemy of Transformation – Finding a way from Entitlement to Gratitude.

. . . So I’m playing at being a pilgrim, and finding a way from entitlement to gratitude."

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Lucy hopes that what she learns and writes will help us all walk more softly on our troubled planet, through adopting an attitude of gratitude.

"The breed's history dates back to early in the 18th century, when the first European settlers found dogs domesticated by Khoi-khoi tribes with the hair on the spine turned forward. In the late 19th century, big game hunters needed a hunting dog that was tough, resistant to disease, and intelligent enough to avoid crocodiles and snakes, but brave and fast enough to face a lion. Also important was a tick-repellent smooth coat and tight paw pads to protect against thorns and rough terrain.".

Fortunately Israel no longer has lions roaming wild.

But we used to!

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You will enjoy looking at the BibleWalks.com page about the Dir Hijla/Gerassimos monastery near the Dead Sea.

There is a statue of a lion there and many icons and paintings of a lion and St. Gerassimos with the Mountains of Judea behind them.

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The legend says that the Abbot encountered a lion roaring with pain near the Jordan River. He removed a thorn from the lion's paw.

The lion was so thankful that he became tame and joined the community.

In the Greek Orthodox art he is often depicted with a donkey and a camel, his friends from the monastery.

Friday, October 22, 2010

. Maybe the window-dresser for this store in Mamilla Mall knew about James' Weekend Reflections meme.He or she thoughtfully provided a mirror so I could get reflections both in the window glass and in the mirror.Well . . . more likely, the mirror is for the ballerina to practice in front of..The writing says WINTER TO REMEMBER 2010-11.Summer, however, refuses to leave Israel. We are still having sharav heatwaves.

This other window in the mall was not reflecting anything, but the light inside made these pretty silhouettes..Wishing you lots of light and joy and time for reflection on the coming Sabbath.Shabbat shalom, peace..

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

.Mamilla Avenue (the mall) is currently showing an exhibition of sculptures based on fairy tales or legends.There is also one artwork inspired by a biblical verse.The artist is Osher Sutil..

Today the radio is playing sad nostalgic songs in honor of the 15th anniversary of the death of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.Appropriate and often heard is "For is the tree of the field a man whom comes in siege before you?"It is a song by Israeli singer Yehudit Ravitz, based on Nathan Zach's poem and on the verse in Deuteronomy 20:19 [a very good link].Here are the words, translated by Ariel Brosh:

Because the man is the tree of the field;Like the tree the man grows up.Like the man, the tree also gets uprooted,And I surely do not knowwhere I have been and where I will be,like the tree of the field.

Because the man is the tree of the field;Like the tree he aspires upwards.Like the man, he gets burnt in fire,And I surely do not knowwhere I have been and where will I be,like the tree of the field.

Because the man is the tree of the field;Like the tree he is thirsty to water.Like the man, thirsty he remains,And I surely do not knowwhere I have been and where will I be,like the tree of the field.

I've loved, and I've hated;I've tasted both this and that;I was buried in a plot of land;And it's bitter, it's bitter in my mouth,

Like the tree of the field;Like the tree of the field.*------------------------------------Yitzhak Rabin, z"l, was cut down by an assassin's bullet on this night in 1995 at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.Our nation was shocked that such a thing could happen here--a political assassination by a Jewish Israeli.Today there is a new generation, kids ready to start their army service, who are too young to remember Rabin or his murder..We try to teach them and to remind ourselves today with memorial services across the country and a special session of the Knesset and programs on the media.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

. Nice daughter Naomi watching me pretend to puff on the nargila..For ABC Wednesday's N-Day.. We got the family (scattered over three different continents) together for lunch at the Lebanese Restaurant in Ein Kerem village.We sat for hours eating good food, talking and laughing, welcomed hospitably by host Issa..After the hookah/nargila came to the table, we continued sitting even more.Pretty, isn't it?. But these water bowls of 17th and 18th century nargilas are more than pretty!Please enlarge and see the exquisite detail..The Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem describes one hubble bubble or hookah as glass with gilded decoration and another as gilded silver with enamel.The larger hanging one has gold, enamel, and precious stones..The small one is a coconut with metal inlay, crafted in Persia or India in the 18th century.Nargila derives from the Persian word nārghile, meaning coconut, suggesting that early hookahs were hewn from coconut shells..The tobacco smoked is referred to as shisha.Tobacco was introduced by Portuguese traders in the late 16th century."And the rest is history.".

Monday, October 18, 2010

. Look! A knight and his steed once again within the walls of Jerusalem's Old City!

The knight's real feet were up on little stilts, well-hidden.. The horse's movements were so life-like that even the tough policeman stopped to pat his white head.BTW, they tell me that 15th century armor weighed 25 kilograms while the 21st century infantry soldier carries an equal weight of equipment..

Enlarge this big map of the Old City hanging near the Jaffa Gate to read what to expect along the route in the Christian Quarter.